Sheriff's Deputy Charged with Violating Data Practices Act

A Dakota County deputy sheriff embroiled in a custody dispute with his former girlfriend has been charged with violating Minnesota’s Government Data Practices Act.

Phillip Mycal Simpson, 40, of Burnsville faces two counts of violating the act, which prohibits law enforcement personnel from revealing private corrections and detention information so that it becomes accessible to the public if they do so outside the scope of their employment.

Each charge is a misdemeanor, which carries a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. Simpson is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges July 29 in Dakota County District Court in Apple Valley.

According to a recently filed Minnesota Court of Appeals decision, the case stems from what the court called a “romantic triangle” involving Simpson, another Dakota County corrections officer and a former inmate in the Dakota County Jail.

 Simpson and the female corrections officer had a child together in 2009. When they split up, the woman became involved with the other man, whom she met while he was incarcerated in the jail, according to the appeals court opinion.

When the custody dispute began last year, Simpson tried to ensure that his son would have no contact with his mother’s new boyfriend, and he submitted a court affidavit in which he noted that the former inmate had been in the Dakota County Jail more than once, has had at least four DUIs, has had his driver’s license revoked and that he takes lithium.

Simpson also told his ex-girlfriend’s mother that the man is bipolar and takes lithium, and called his probation officer to report that he had been drinking in violation of his probation conditions.

The former inmate subsequently sued Simpson for violating his privacy rights under the Minnesota Health Records Act and for defamation.

Simpson sought to have Dakota County officials defend him in the lawsuit. The appeals court ruled in late May that because Simpson had made the statements about his ex-wife’s boyfriend outside the scope of his duties as a corrections officer, the county was not required to defend him in the lawsuit.

The charges against Simpson, filed in late June, accuse him of violating the Government Data Practices Act by filing the affidavit in the custody dispute – making the information easily accessible to the public – and by revealing private corrections and detention information to a third party when he told his ex-girlfriend’s mother about the man’s medical and detention history.